France has criticized the US for scrapping the Iran nuclear deal and resorting, instead, to a policy of pressure and sanctions against the country, warning that such an approach could further destabilize the restive Middle East region.

Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told France Inter radio on Wednesday that he disagreed with Washington’s decision earlier this month to defy international warnings and withdraw from the 2015 nuclear deal.

“The sanctions to be launched against Iran will not foster dialogue,” but will rather weaken those promoting negotiation, he said.

This stance, he added, “is likely to put the region in further danger than it is today,” he added.

The remarks came two days after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo threatened Iran with the “strongest sanctions in history” if it does not comply with a list of 12 US demands.

The list requires Iran to halt its ballistic missile program and stop uranium enrichment, among other things…

Today, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will layout what they call their “Plan B” for Iran, an effort to further destabilize the country in preparation for regime change in Trump’s post Obama nuclear deal-era.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will unveil the administration’s “Plan B” for countering Iran on Monday, an idea that some critics call a “pipe dream,” while others question whether the administration is coming clean on its goals for the country.

The plan, administration officials say, is to assemble a global coalition to pressure Iran into negotiations on “a new security architecture” that goes beyond its nuclear program.” CNN

They are slightly abandoning the propaganda line which centers on Iran’s supposed efforts to build a nuclear weapon they can launch it at Israel and be wiped in the aftermath.

Instead they are now focusing on Iran’s “influence in the region” which they claim is holding up various “national interests” of our, including but not limited to our Greater Kurdistan project in the Middle East, the ultimate decimation of the Houthi revolution in Yemen and of course… the ultimate surrender of all things Palestine to their Israeli masters.

“We need a new framework that’s going to address the totality of Iran’s threats,” Brian Hook, the State Department’s director of policy planning told reporters Friday. “This involves a range of things around its nuclear program – missiles, proliferating missiles and missile technology, its support for terrorists, and its aggressive and violent activities that fuel civil wars in Syria and Yemen.” CNN

There was a time during the Obama/Clinton regime when they wanted to install one of the old Shah’s family members to lead the nation as our designated puppet but now it appears they wish to install that woman who runs the terrorist organization the MEK. That’s how they are going to bring “freedom and democracy” to Iran… which, by the way… already has freedom and democracy.

Just not our “brand’ of it.

This should not come as a surprise to anyone who has been paying attention over the past few years as Pompeo is a Koch-industries creation who is a PURE neoliberal globalist who has on many occasions voiced his opinion that Iran MUST be regime changed, by force if necessary. The force of a “coalition” he said not that long ago, by the way.

President Donald Trump’s move to decertify the Iranian nuclear Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), entered into a little over two years ago, was applauded by Israel, Saudi Arabia and a couple of Persian Gulf States, but by no one else. Quite the contrary, as the European and Asian co-signatories on the agreement, having failed to dissuade Trump, have clearly indicated that they will continue to abide by it. Also, the decision to kick the can down the road by giving Congress 60 days to increase pressure on Tehran in an attempt to include other issues beyond nuclear development like its ballistic missile program and labeling the country’s Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist group are likely to create confusion as Washington is unable to communicate directly with Iran. That uncertainty could possibly lead to a fraught-with-danger Iranian decision to withdraw completely from the agreement.

The Trump speech could reasonably be described as embracing an “Israel-First” and “Saudi-Second” perspective that might plausibly suggest that it was actually drafted by their respective foreign ministries. Contrary to Trump’s campaign pledges, it might also be characterized as an “America-Last” speech, since it actually encourages nuclear proliferation while rendering it even more difficult for anyone to respect the agreements entered into by the United States government.

Fred Kaplan sums up the speech’s fundamental dishonesty with considerable clarity by observing that “It flagrantly misrepresents what the deal was meant to do, the extent of Iran’s compliance, and the need for corrective measures. If he gets his way, he will blow up one of the most striking diplomatic triumphs of recent years, aggravate tensions in the Middle East, make it even harder to settle the North Korean crisis peacefully, and make it all but impossible for allies and adversaries to trust anything the United States says for as long as Trump is in office.”

Former senior CIA analyst Paul Pillar has also dissected the untruths and false analogies that made up the bulk of the Trump speech. In short, Pillar argues that the president is using faulty analysis to end a program that is working and that employs unprecedented intrusive inspections to guarantee that Iran can make no progress towards having a nuclear weapon for at least eight more years and quite likely for even longer. Against that, Iran could well end its cooperation and, out of fear of U.S. attack, might well turn towards possession of a nuclear arsenal to guarantee its own survival. Pillar calls ending JCPOA now because Iran just might develop a weapon after it expires in 2025 as “committing suicide because of fear of death.”

In a second highly partisan international action last week, the United States led a march out the door of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization due to its alleged “bias against Israel.” UNESCO had enraged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by declaring that the Old City of Hebron and the associated Cave of the Patriarchs on the West Bank is an endangered Palestinian world cultural heritage site. A few hundred Israeli settlers live in Hebron, guarded by the Israeli Army, amidst 200,000 Palestinians who, according toThe Guardian, “have long lived under harsh restrictions in the city, which is one of the starkest symbols of the Israeli occupation.” The U.S. is also threatening to pull out of the U.N.’s Human Rights Council “to protect Israel,”…